By Jason Kim: In the past couple of weeks, #2 IBF heavyweight contender Tony Thompson (36-2, 24 KO’s) has been making excuses for his loss to IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (57-3, 50 KO’s) in their fight in 2008.

Wladimir knocked Thompson out in the 11th round in a fight that was somewhat competitive until Thompson started limping in the 10th.

Thompson has been saying recently that he fought Wladimir with a torn up right knee, and that injury kept him from fighting at 100 percent.

Thompson will get a second chance against Wladimir next week on July 7th at the Stade de Suisse, in Berne, Switzerland.

Wladimir wasn’t feeling Thompson’s excuses, saying in a Thursday conference call quoted by Fightnews.com “My suggestion to Tony Thompson: Suck it up. Bite you lip, and just move forward. If your performance was bad, just get another chance. Give respect to the champion. There’s a reason the champion has been there for so many years. It’s not an accident.”

At the time that Wladimir and Thompson fought in 2008, Wladimir had only been a champion for two years, and he hadn’t been on top for nearly long as he is now. Thompson actually didn’t fight bad at all. For a losing fighter, he gave Wladimir one of his toughest bouts. I can only think of Samuel Peter as having given Wladimir a tougher time in losing.

Wladimir will have to try and get the 6’5″ southpaw Thompson out early if he wants to avoid taking a lot of punishment like he did last time. Thompson was able to land a lot of shots against Wladimir last time out due to his extremely long arms. Wladimir wasn’t able to dominate the action on the outside like he normally does against his shorter opponents. Wladimir couldn’t land his jab with any frequency because Thompson kept picking it off with his guard. It came down to Wladimir’s right hand his clinching that won the fight for him, but it was a boring fight from start to finish.